EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's expression was notably uncertain with Gallus' suggestion. "I...cannot say that will not work, but it seems to me like a long shot. They are prisoners, and know that we are going to interrogate them. I doubt they will trust anything that any of us say. If it is to have a chance of working, you would have to make your conversion to defector believable. You could...make them believe that they are affecting our loyalty. You recall how the Imperial taunted you? I would be willing to wager he is going to do so again. Perhaps this time, you can make it seem like he is getting to you? I will leave you alone, and you can beat him senseless. Make it seem like he is angering you, then leave him. After a few sessions, he may believe he is affecting you."

Irenya nodded. "Yes, our skin is quite resistant to such affects. And...I suppose Khajiit fur does much the same thing." She commented. Her breakfast was still mostly untouched, as she was eating rather slowly. Even with the large pauses between speaking, she was too distracted to focus on her food. Instead, she kept glancing over to Ahnasha, who was still focused on helping Rhazii with his breakfast. At this point, she had not yet noticed her.

Taking in a deep breath, Irenya asked yet another question. "Out of...curiosity, are you married to your mate? Um, to Ahnasha? Have you gone through the proper ceremonies, that is?" She asked. It was a seemingly random and personal question, with no obvious reason on why Irenya would be asking, or why she would even care. She had never shown any signs of caring about Fendros and Ahnasha's personal life, beyond voicing her objections to it, so to say that her current line of questioning was peculiar would be an understatement.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, it is difficult to say what will work at this point." Meesei answered. She crossed one arm over the other and held her hand up to her chin as she thought. "I have not yet questioned them enough to know how forthcoming they will be. Plain torture, in my experience, is not useful for obtaining accurate information. People will simply say whatever you want to hear. They have to have another motivation. In my questioning last night, I determined most of their names, and a few admitted to being infiltrators. Any information they can give us, we of course want, but right now, the primary questions we need answered are about their intentions, and their base of operations. If they refuse to cooperate, our best chance may be to use them against one another. Some of them might give away information that we could use in other interrogations, or if we can discover any specific connections between them, we might be able to take advantage of them. It would be useful if we could identify which one of them is the leader."

Once she was asked a question she could answer, Irenya was able to speak more confidently. "Yes, the impostor is stable. She was still unconscious when I left her last night, but according to the healers I questioned earlier this morning, she awoke in the middle of the night." She explained. However, her confidence faded once more after the conversation once again fell to her. She went back to her meal briefly before forcing herself to speak up once more.

"You and your...family, are you in good health? Have there been any complications from the conditions we have been in over the last few weeks. I had to prevent two cases of heat stroke during our travels, and some people were too conservative with their water rations. Be sure you are all properly hydrated, just in case." Irenya continued.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As well, I think this is a good place for a skip.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In the hours following the Senchal clan’s arrival in the stronghold, most were able to settle in surprisingly quickly. Apart from a few representatives, none of the members of either clans had met one another before, but they all had enough common ground to relate to one another. The cultures of Anequina and Pelletine were notably different, but as lycans, they had similar lifestyles that moved beyond those boundaries. As well, the war had, over the last few years, created at least one positive effect among Tamriel’s lycans in the form of unity. They had one common enemy; a goal that could unite them no matter how disparate their backgrounds or beliefs. In this case, the fact that they were mostly Khajiit of Elsweyr simply sped up their acceptance of one another.

Meesei had taken the time to question the prisoners they had captured, though she had not gone into a detailed interrogation just yet. For that, she would rather have others present to assist, particularly Ri’vashi, since she was more familiar with them. For her first round of questioning, she was simply testing to see what they would freely admit. Apart from the Argonian, who was still unconscious, she was able to learn their names, and managed to get a few to confess to at least being infiltrators. Before retiring for the night, she did meet briefly with Ri’vashi and Ri’nakhad, mostly to introduce them so they could discuss the werevultures they would be sending out as scouts the next day.

Just as when they had first arrived at the Senchal clan’s outpost, Meesei, her pack, as well as Gallus’ were offered proper quarters closer to the leaders of the Orcrest clan. In that, both Ri’vashi and Dro’cahi were agreed. Meesei left it up to each member of her and Gallus’ pack on whether they would accept, but she gladly took one of the rooms, and personally thanked the individual who had offered it to her.

---

The next morning, Meesei awoke early and had her breakfast before most in the clan had awoken. With permission from the person whose room she was using, she had taken one of her cloaks and modified it slightly to fit her, so she did not stand out quite as much in the crowds. For the first matter she needed to deal with for the day, she sought out Ri’vashi, then headed with her to find Gallus. By this point the Argonian impostor would likely have awakened, or could be awakened, so she wanted to begin the interrogation.

Gallus was in the middle of breakfast when Meesei and Ri’vashi approached. It was not necessary that they begin immediately, so she sat down beside him to wait for him to finish. “Gallus, I believe it is time for us to interrogate the prisoners. Feel free to finish your meal first, however.”

Nearby, Ahnasha and Fendros were eating their breakfast with Rhazii, as usual. Ahnasha was sitting beside Rhazii, taking small samples of his food to make sure it did not contain moon sugar before he could eat it. As such, she was not conversing with Fendros at the moment. There was nothing strange about any element of this scene until Irenya, of all people, moved to the seat next to Fendros. Despite how unusual it was for her to, as it seemed, seek him out, she did not say anything at first. For a minute or so, she simply sat silently, and somewhat awkwardly, while she ate her meal. But eventually, she spoke up in a calm, but ever so slightly nervous tone. “So…Fendros. Have you been finding everything you need here?”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'll need to make a point of watching it at some point.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ma'tanza shook her head, still appearing confused. "Ma'tanza wasn't trying to say anything. She was just surprised. This one is not used to...those kinds of thoughts. Well, she is, kinda, but not from people she cares about. She isn't used to those kind of thoughts being normal. Ma'tanza will be fine, though. She knows you don't actually want to do that right now." She answered with a reassuring voice, even going as far as giving Tzirret a smile.

---

Ri'vashi gave a brief chuckle. "Well, perhaps we should wait on giving our thanks; we could both be horribly wrong about everything we've said." She joked as she stood up to her feet, stretching out her muscles once more. "But, having a plan is better than not. This one thinks she will have a quick wash, then get some rest. Ri'vashi suspects she is going to be quite busy over the next few weeks. Though, perhaps not as busy as she could be. At least one silver lining to the traitor's presence here was that she was having us ready our soldiers for a long journey, so we are already mostly ready in that regard. If you need any assistance, or think of any suggestions for Ri'vashi, feel free to find her. She does appreciate any assistance she can get."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Neither Ma'tanza nor Tzirret knew exactly where to go find what they were looking for. She guessed that the largest pool of water would probably be lower in the ruins, where she guessed the source would be, but their search was really little more than random. Still, they were learning their way around the stronghold, so it was not wasted time. She was focusing enough on searching that she did not notice how Tzirret was behaving until he spoke up once more.

Ma'tanza looked to Tzirret with obvious confusion. "What do you mean? There isn't anything wrong anymore, why do you ask? Did Ma'tanza make you think something was wrong?"

---

Ri'vashi leaned forward towards Gallus. She allowed her elbows to rest on her knees, then clasped her hands together in front of her. She stared him down, as if she were giving him an examination with her eyes. In particular, she focused on his face and the changes in his expression. It seemed like minutes of silence before she spoke, though it was only seconds.

"Hmm...this is not about them, is it? You haven't really experienced the pain of loss as you fear he will, have you? Ri'vashi can say that it is a growing experience, no matter the age at which it occurs. It is not a pleasant experience, by any means, but letting go is an important lesson to learn. Ri'vashi sees that you want the best for them, which is far more mature than you describe yourself. Try to look at yourself honestly. Do you think your own experiences color how you see theirs?" Ri'vashi asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"No, it's fine, it's...fine." Ma'tanza stammered out nervously. She tried to appear calm, almost professional in her demeanor. She stood up to her feet and extended a hand towards Tzirret to help him up. Ma'tanza shouldn't embarrass you like that; she was just surprised is all. She knows you feel that way about this one, but, um...well...she just...it's fine. We can head back and find a place to have a nice bath. Does that sound good?" She asked.

---

Ri'vashi raised her brow curiously at Gallus. Of all the things he could have asked of her, this particular question was far from what she expected. "Ri'vashi will not lie, that question is rather strange. But, she supposes she did make the offer. Unfortunately, this one does not know of how much help she can be. Ri'vashi has never had children of her own to raise, and there were never any boys of her age around growing up. Even if there had been, there were not many in High Rock who would have interest in a Cathay."

Rather than continuing to make excuses, Ri'vashi paused a moment to think on what practical advice she could offer. She walked over and sat down on a wooden bench near the chest of staves to rest as they spoke. "Still, Ri'vashi tends to approach such things the same way as you. Hands-off, that is. She believes in allowing her pride to be their own people. But, if they are young, this one supposes you just want to be able to give them advice? This sounds like an experience they could both learn from, you just have to make sure nothing happens that could permanently impact their lives. Or, irreversibly, rather. Perhaps you could look to yourself for advice as well? Did you have similar experiences at their age? What did that do to you?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ma'tanza started to laugh. "A cat? Well, this one has a cat and a dog all in one." She responded. For a while, they lay together in one another's embrace, exchanging hugs, kisses, and other shows of affection. As they could not simply lay there in the cave the rest of the night, however, they did need to figure out something to do next.

"Well, we could go find the others if you want. Or maybe just look around the stronghold and learn our way around? We could try to meet new people in the new clan, or just sit down in that beautiful garden. Or go find a good place to take a bath. Ma'tanza knows she needs one." She suggested. As she was throwing out suggestions, however, she seemed to notice something, causing a strange expression to come over her face. She could feel his physical desires, which caused her noticeable embarrassment. She sat up onto her knees and looked him over while rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "Oh, um...sorry."

---

Ri'vashi simply shook her head as she closed her eyes. It took a few minutes, but she did eventually manage to shift back to her Cathay form. Standing back to her feet, she walked over to Gallus while stretching out her freshly-transformed muscles. "Ri'vashi will likely have another when she can first have a fight. She should be satisfied for now."

Pausing for a moment, Ri'vashi looked over Gallus quickly, then smiled. "This one would like to thank you, Gallus. She appreciates your advice, and that you took a few minutes to help relieve her of her frustrations. Mostly, though, she finds it helpful to have outside opinions. Fresh perspectives. Seeing as you are new in this clan, is there anything Ri'vashi could do to return the favor?"